Two Men In Rape Case Say Woman Gave Consent

A POLICE investigator told the Supreme Court yesterday that two of the seven men accused of rape admitted to having consensual sex with a Bimini woman who had also given her permission for their friends to have sex with her after a night of drinking and partying at several night clubs.

Detective Sergeant 106 Merinard, attached to Sexual Offence Unit of the Central Detective Unit in Grand Bahama, travelled to Bimini on February 3, 2014, and conducted a confrontation with the complainant and two of the accused - Natico Symonette and Desmond Greenslade.

He said the complainant claimed that Symonette, who she knew as “Junior”, had sex with her without permission in a dorm room on February 2, 2014, but Symonette claimed that he had got permission from the complainant for her to have sex with him and his friends.

In record of interview conducted by Det Sgt Merinard, Symonette, a resident of West End Avenue, Nassau, told the officer that he was a plumber helper employed with a plumbing company contracted to do work at Bimini Bay. He said he resided at the employee Dorm B4.

The officer said the accused told him that a friend had introduced him to the complainant on the night in question while at the B Johns night club, where they had drinks and were dancing. He told the officer that they left and went to another club, Coco Plum, where they “got wasted”. The accused claimed that the complainant starting kissing him outside the club and they caught a ride to the dorm.

Symonette told Sgt Merinard that the complainant did not want to go home. He and the complainant got in the bed, where she started kissing and touching him. He claimed that the complainant allowed him to take off her underwear and they started having sex and she did not stop him. Afterwards, he claimed that he asked the complainant if she didn’t mind his “niggers” having sex with her too.

Symonette claims that the complainant told him that she did not mind and his friend, DJ, had sex with her after he was done. At no time did the complainant tell his friend to stop.

Sgt Merinard said the accused told him that he went outside and when he returned, the two were still having sex. He said before they went to sleep in the bed, the complainant performed oral sex on him. When he woke up during the night, he said he saw the complainant having sex with his dorm mate Charmer Cox, also known as “Yellow”.

The police detective said he also conducted a record of interview with Desmond Greenslade, also known as “DJ”, on February 3, 2014. Det Sgt Merinard told the court that during a confrontation with Greenslade, the complainant told him that she knew him as “Red” and that she heard his friends call him “DJ”.

In his record of interview, Greenslade told the detective that he resided at Faith Avenue South, Nassau, and was employed as a plumber with Kevin Brown Plumbing, which was contracted by Bimini Bay. He said he was staying in Dorm B4. He said that he was at B Johns, Island Bar, and Coco Plum nightclub with Symonette on the night in question. Greenslade told Sgt Merinard that he had consensual sex with the complainant at the dorm with Symonette and Charmer.

He said that Symonette asked the complainant if she could have sex with his friends. “He said that Junior (Natico) asked Major first, but he said ‘no’, then he called on Greenslade.

Greenslade said after he had sex with the complainant, he went out to the bathroom and when he returned to his bed, he saw the complainant sleeping in the bottom bunk with Junior.

Greenslade said that sometime later he saw Charmer and the complainant having sex. Later that morning, the complainant used his cell phone to call a taxi and he paid for the fare.

The record of interviews were signed by both men, Det Sgt Merinard said. He said they were cautioned and had waived their right to speak to an attorney. He further said that the men were not threatened, induced or promised anything.

He said that Corporal 28 Charles had conducted a record of interviews with the five remaining accused: Ridge Farquharson, Brenton Brooks, Charmer Cox, Fabian Major and Terrico Smith, who are also charged with rape with Greenslade and Symonette.

The trial resumes today, when the defence is expected to open its case. Justice Estelle Gray Evans is presiding over the matter before a jury of nine men.